Ella’s winning design of Christmas poster competition
By The Light Up Hassocks Team
After Light Up Hassocks 2022, we bade farewell to Bernard O’Rourke of Sussex Vale Rotary. We take great pleasure in knowing he’ll be able to enjoy the event as a resident this year, and we hope he’ll be proud of us.
We are lucky enough to have a, admittedly a very small but nonetheless, fantastic team who have worked incredibly hard to prepare for Friday 1st December. We listened carefully to feedback and know there have been challenges with lighting near the bridge. We also faced uncertainty around Halfords which led us to think about new locations for our stage.
This year, we’ve condensed stalls into a smaller area, moved the stage to Chancellors Park, and, with thanks to the Parish Council, we’ve invested in some hefty lights. We’re taking a more environmentally conscious approach, and traders are being asked to avoid single-use plastics wherever possible. We’ll be providing recycling bins in addition to waste bins. We have all the usual favourites: a parade with Burgess Hill Marching Youth band leading the serenade at Villa Adastra, the Hassocks Infant School and Windmills choirs, funfair, games, fabulous food and drink stalls, arts and crafts and live music from the very talented Stanmer Band.
We’re kicking the festivities off with the poster competition, hosted by Sussex Vale Rotary, at Hassocks Infant School. Children design a Christmas poster, and the winning entry becomes the poster for the next Light Up Hassocks. The winning designer gets to turn the Christmas lights on! Ella won 2022’s competition and we hope she enjoys seeing her artwork here (right), and all around the village very soon!
It wouldn’t be Christmas without the fabulous window displays created by our wonderful traders each year, so we’re delighted to announce that Art Groups 1 and 2 from u3a will be judging the windows this year in the week commencing 20th November. The winner and two runners-up will be announced on the night, and competition is going to be fierce…
Let us end by saying we’ve been talking with the elves at the North Pole and they’ve sprinkled a bit of magic dust on our Santa hats, so look out for some extra sparkle!
Useful information about Light Up Hassocks
Keymer Road will close at 4pm and re-open at 8pm.
The roads that meet Keymer Road (Dale Avenue, Grand Avenue, Parklands Road, Chancellors Park, Downsview) will be closed at the Keymer Road end.
The road closure will be extended up to Clerk’s Acre between 4.15pm and 5.15pm when we march up to Villa Adastra. We ask that all lay-bys be emptied by 3pm so that our stallholders can set up in good time. Please avoid driving into the centre of the village after 2.30pm if you can.
We’d particularly ask you to avoid Chancellors Park where Mid Sussex Radio and our team will be setting up the stage next to Bennett Oakley Solicitors. If you or a neighbour have carers, please help us to make sure this information gets to the carers so that they aren’t surprised by the road closure on the night.
Of course, in the event of a medical or other blue lights emergency, we will help vehicles through, but they will have to be escorted and that takes a little time.
More information about stalls and the timetable see the Facebook page @LightUpHassocks
For more information about the event, road closures, or joining us a marshal or volunteer for this year or next year, reach us at lightuphassocks@gmail.com.
